Hi everyone,

  I have an eleven week old pup, out of my bitch, and have decided to get him neutured soon, as my family has two mixed breed intact males living outdoors. Certainly don't want any fights between the three. Anyways, the father of my boy is very large and the pup is already showing signs of taking after him in size. I would really love for Houdini to grow to full size and develop the muscles he needs to show for it. I've heard that neutered males are smaller and get fat in some cases. What age should I neuture him and still allow him to develope the muscles and grow to full size without risking him fighting the other males? Should I not worry about his size and neuture him as soon as possible? Or is it okay if I wait a few months before he goes in? Any advice would be great!

-Tara

hello,

i
donot have an anwser to your question but i am waiting to see the replies. i too have 2 males one 2 one 9 weeks. am concidering nutering the youngest, to reduce any chances of aggression between the two, although they get on well at the moment. but was worried about weight gain and growth also.
have been told though that neutering does not make males fatter.

The advice which my vet gave to me was to wait as long as possible before castrating (when the dog starts lifting his leg to pee is when to start thinking about it - usually 7+ months). This gives the dog chance to develop his musculature and, importantly, gives the penis chance to assume correct adult proportions. Apparently an immature penis can lead to urinary problems in later life.

This opinion is held by many veterinarians, but there are also many proponents of early castration.

I believe there is some evidence that early castration can lead to the dog becoming taller than usual, but I do not have the reference for this. I am sure someone else can supply it.

Castration does not necessarily lead to weight gain. This depends on diet and exercise.

The younger you castrate a male the less likely he will grow into what you would expect, he is more likely to be over tall and on the leggy side than too small but the normal male characteristics will not develop. Also the younger he is done the longer time he will have to develop any side effects that the removal of a large part of his hormonal system could cause. He is unlikely to be totally unaffected but it may not be till later in his life and by then you will not associate it with the castration. With a dog of that size I would think that you should not castrate until he is about 3 years old but that will not help the situation, why do you think there will be fights and that castration will not make fights more likely rather than less. Castrated dogs often develop feminisation syndrome, which means they smell to other males like females about to come into season. This may well cause the others to fight and be forever trying to mate the castrated male.